Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Charlie and the hawk

Most of yesterday was cloudy, damp and chilly, but I let them out for some exercise. They headed for the deck as usual and were just pecking at some bare grass. All of a sudden I heard a swoosh sound and one of the hens cackle.

Luckily, a hawk missed her but Charlie started a ruckus. He kept this up for several minutes and then hens started squawking. I don't know if Charlie scared him off or the hawk startled Charlie.

 (He's loud, so turn the volume down a wee bit)
And you have to click twice on the video to get it going



 (So glad I had my trusty camera with me!)


 We have a lot of hawks around here, so I usually stay outside when the chickens are out. I'm surprised it came so close, since Hubby and I were really only a few feet away.

Didn't see what hen the hawk went after - probably Lavern or Shirley as they are a lot small than Lucy.

I must be more vigilant.....





6 comments :

  1. We have a least one pair of them close to us as well.....I never let my girls out alone!!!

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    1. We have a lot here - eagles, too. Sunrise Mt. is right in back of us which home to lots of them. Have seen them swoop down and pick a squirrel out of a tree.

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  2. You should have seen my girls twist n turn their heads looking, trying to figure out what Charlie was, and where he was lol...

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    1. That must have been funny! Charlie was really looking for a fight - I had to scoot them back to the pen - you should have heard all that racket!

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  3. Get a good pellet rifle. Check with game laws first, but I believe that you can still shoot them if they're attacking your chickens.

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    1. I would have no qualms about getting rid of anything that would try to hurt my chickens, Gorges. I don't like to shoot any bird, but I would in that case. It's funny, we have a lot of vultures here and Charlie doesn't mind them at all - even when they are walking on the ground. He goes bonkers over the turkeys though.

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